At the dawn of 2020 very few could have foreseen the trajectory of customer marketing techniques and trends a few months later. Pundits happily pontificated on the shape of things to come in the marketing world. Then came COVID 19 and knocked all such preconceived concepts out of their orbits. It is time for a rethink to adjust to the Corona pandemic lockdown situation and its aftershocks.

#1. Interactive content

Interactive content, as a practical ploy to keep visitors glued to the website, had a different definition pre-COVID. It was all about content related to the product, its use, applications, benefits, and perceived advantage of brand value. The COVID cataclysm redefined it. 

Nowadays websites fall over each other to display content related to COVID, how to take care of your health, risks, precautions, and so on. It has almost become de rigueur to have something to say about the coronavirus.

#2. Content marketing

Content marketing is a way to reach out to prospective customers, influence them, build brand value, inform people, and steer them into the sales funnel. Directly or indirectly, it was about traffic, conversions, sales, and revenues. 

These days the tone is rather subdued and COVID enters the conversation. The marketing pitch is there but it is COVID modified keeping the current global sentiment in mind. So, if you are seeding content to keep rankings alive it is right and proper to have a COVID slant to it.

Gartner posted an article on its site on how brands learned new marketing lessons during the COVID outbreak by showing empathy instead of a direct sales push. People locked down at home spend 20 percent more time browsing the internet and helpful content that fulfills social needs contributes to proactive customer experience. The accent is on being tasteful and context-aware.

Being transparent is another important attribute. Content that promises fast delivery of products but fails to deliver can have a negative impact. It pays to be truthful about the delivery position or availability of services.

#3. Social media

Social media plays a pivotal role in customer marketing. Facebook lets you run promotions, offer coupons and discounts, initiate referral programs and the like to keep the customer engaged and also to let them promote you in their circles. You have to always updated with the current trends in social media marketing. It is the springboard to sales but these days that approach has been watered down a little bit. Marketers show more concern for customers’ health and overall situation. Offers and promotions take on a different color with a pronounced helpful attitude. It pays.

You use Corona to polish your brand image and reputation while doing something positive for those in need. This ranges from offering food assistance to the hungry to helping the locked down people find online grocery shops or provide helpful cooking, hygiene, and health tips.

Take a leaf out of their book and reach out with a humane, personalized angle. It will pay off—in the future. The average usage of the smartphone has increased by about eight percent, most of the time on social media and CPC and CPM rates have taken a dive. You may consider deploying Facebook and Google PPC ads. Visibility will be high though returns may be low it is important to maintain a presence.

#4. Agile adaptability

Something could work right now, but it won’t last forever.

COVID has shown us just how true it is. Today it is about agile adaptability to the changing situation. Will lockdown continue? If so, stick to one gameplan. Is it likely to be lifted next week? Then get ready to blitz prospective customers so that they can give vent to pent up purchase emotions. The situation is fluid and marketers have to work harder to stay agile and adaptable to changing situations. This is where using intent data proves useful. If people cannot buy today, they can at least research and analyzing data on this is certainly of help to marketers to know customer intentions.

#5. Customer behavior analysis

Martech posted an article on a survey on how the retail industry prioritizes customer behavior analysis. Outlier’s 2020 Retail & CPG Customer Behavior survey shows that 91 percent of respondents say that tracking customer behavior data is important to stay competitive and 85 percent state that its interpretation is important for decision making. The keyword here is “interpretation” in the COVID 19 context. Many people are free due to lockdown and may simply browse online for products of interest or for products that they do not remotely intend to purchase. Interpreting such behavioral data becomes a challenge.

#6. Budget cuts

With cash flows reduced, companies are cutting budgets, and marketing falls under the ax. It is vitally important for marketers to convince clients about the need to sustain or even reinforce online activities. One must stay alive in the mass consciousness. You build for the future and what goodwill marketing generates will certainly pay dividends when the situation improves.

One can say that COVID has introduced a bit of humanity and a different people-oriented perspective to marketing. Maybe the change will be lasting. Perhaps it will not as people revert to their old ways and so do businesses but still, it is good to see a shift in customer marketing strategies in which marketers look for marginal gains and to sustain the people connect.

About the author:

Giriraj Singh is a content marketer at PeddleWeb, an internet advertising company in India. He holds spectacular skills in digital marketing, branding, lead generation, customer retention, and a few more.